In Cross River, Students Beats Governor’s Aide Up

A crowd of higher institution students from Cross River state beat up Michael Abuo, the special assistant to Governor Ben Ayade on student matters on Monday, December 19.

He was beaten up at the U.J Esuene Stadium in Calabar during a reception in honour of Ayade following the December 9 Supreme Court ruling which validated the governor’s election, The Punch reports

The students, numbering over 100, descended on him for allegedly withholding N300,000 that was given for ‘mobilisation.’

Report has it that Governor Ayade gave N1million to each of the 29 commissioners and some other aides to mobilise the people for the victory celebration in Calabar and the students were promised N300,000 to join in the celebration.

Abuo was said to have refused to release the alleged money to the students which aggrieved them and they pounced on him.

He reportedly jumped over the stadium fence and was saved by policemen who scared off the students.

One of the students from the University of Calabar, who simply gave her name as Josephine said: “We got the information from a reliable source that the governor approved N300,000 for us for mobilisation, but he refused to release the money.

“We are over 200 that came from different parts of the state for this celebration. Instead of releasing the money, he became infuriated when we confronted him. He has been short-changing us for too long.”

When contacted, Abuo said it was not true that he squandered the money meant for the students.

He claimed the attack was sponsored.

Recall that the Supreme Court declared Ayade as the governor of Cross River state. This followed a suit filed by Joe Agi, who came second in the party’s December 2014 primary, challenging the legitimacy of Governor Ayade over false declaration of age.